We support the better payment practice campaign, ensuring we pay all suppliers within terms.
For more details, see www.payontime.co.uk
For information on late payment penalties, see www.paylate.co.uk
We support the better payment practice campaign, ensuring we pay all suppliers within terms.
For more details, see www.payontime.co.uk
For information on late payment penalties, see www.paylate.co.uk
Andrews & Arnold Ltd
BRACKNELL
$LastChangedDate: 2008-07-23 17:23:42 +0100 (Wed, 23 Jul 2008) $
This document describes the terms which cover the purchase of services by you from us. If buying goods and services at the same time then each is a separate contract. It is in addition to our general terms.
All of the ongoing services we offer (for example: internet services; telephone servces; maintenance; etc.) are provided for each period as agreed (typically monthly, but other billing cycles are available) on an automatically renewing basis. You receive an invoice at (or just before) the start of the period and at that point enter into a new contract for supply of the service for the whole period as specified on the invoice. If you do not ask us to terminate service you will enter in to a new contract when we invoice you for the next period.
For ongoing services invoiced periodically, each period invoiced is treated as a new contract for supply for the period invoiced, and as such any regulations applicable to contracts only from a certain date will apply to invoices issued after that date.
When you order service, we will try and provide it as soon as possible unless you say otherwise. If you need a service provided on a specific date, please make this clear with your order. We will then try to provide the servce on that date or as close as possible. Service provision dates cannot be guaranteed and the date is not a formal part of our agreement, so we have no liability if we fail to meet a specific date. You will only be billed for a service from the date it is in fact provided.
Your initial bill for an ongoing service will be for at least 28 days service and may be as much as a whole billing period plus 27 days so as to align with the billing cycle. Even with no other minimum term, if you terminate service during that period there is no refund for the amount billed and so this is effectively a minimum term. Unless otherwise stated our services do not have any other minimum term. For example, if you took a monthly billed service on the 4th of a month your initial bill will be from that date to the end of the following month - i.e. nearly two months service charges.
Once you have placed an order for the service, as a consumer, the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 permit you to cancel that order, with no penalty, within 7 working days of placing the order. However, this only applies up until the point we have provided the service, which may be before 7 working days from placing your order.
In the case of broadband orders (new or migration) we consider the service we are providing is one of arranging for broadband to be installed and as such that service is provided once we have submitted the necessary orders to our circuit suppliers (typically BT plc) to connect your line and they have accepted that order from us. This is indicated by a COMMITTED status shown on our order tracking web site. This will usually be within a few hours of placing your order. For telephony service, we consider the service provided at the point we have assigned a number to you which is usually at the point you confirm the order. Please bear in mind the service may be provided before the point you happen to start using the service.
In some cases you can move a service from another provider to us. If you do this then you will terminating the service you have with your previous provider for that service. We recommend you always check carefully with your previous provider whether you are liable for any termination charges, minimum notice charges, minimum term charges or any other costs as a result of terminating service with them. We are not liable for any costs you have to your previous provider resulting from migration.
For ongoing services such as internet, domains, etc, the price for service is fixed at the start of each billing period for the whole of that period. We will publish changes to our general prices on our web site, and the current prices apply at the time the invoice is issued.
We understand that you may not notice a price increase until you have received an invoice at the new price. We wish to be fair and reasonable in such cases. If you wish to terminate service because of a price increase, and advise us of this during the first period at the increased price, then we will adjust the amount chargeable for that period to be the previously applicable price so that you are not disadvantaged by a price increase of which you were not aware in advance. This price adjustment only applies if you terminate the service.
We will ensure, with reasonable skill and care, that the service works as we have said it will. If we expect a problem or have to suspend part of the service for some operational reason, then we will let you know in advance if possible - usually via our web site and/or newsgroups.
The Internet is a large network of interconnecting computers managed by different organizations. We cannot be responsible for anything not in our control. We will not refund or compensate you for any break in service or any consequential costs that may arise because the service did not work when you needed it. If the service has failed because of a fault that is within our control we will endeavour to rectify the problem within one working day of being notified of the problem, and if we fail we will credit pro rata the amount paid for the service for each day that the service is unavailable. In any case, we limit any liability to the pro rata cost of the service for the days during which you had problems.
Please note that most line faults are outside our control. Our suppliers for the lines aim to rectify faults within 40 hours but we do not guarantee this. We will endeavour to arrange for line faults to be rectified as quickly as possible and follow all escalation procedures as appropriate. You will have to co-operate with our support staff and carry our simple steps such as checking for a dial tone if appropriate, and connecting your router to the master socket, etc.
It is also important to note that we cannot guarantee the speed (transfer rate, packet loss or latency) of the internet. In some cases (such as broadband) the speed of the link to your site is measured at your modem/router, but this speed is subject to other factors and contention, within the BT network and the internet itself. Such matters are beyond our control and as such we accept no liability.
If, after notifying us of a fault, we are unable to rectify the fault after 3 working days you may opt to terminate service. If you do so within 14 days of reporting the fault we will refund pro rata the amount charged for service for the period from date the fault was reported. This does not apply where service is suspended for a breach of these terms.
If you have not paid us within terms or are in breach of any other terms or our acceptable use policy, then we may take steps to restrict, suspend or terminate your service as we see fit. Until your service is terminated, you must still pay the full price for the use of the service as if it was working normally.
Our Acceptable Use Policy specifies the rules you must follow. The service can be suspended or terminated without refund, if you do not follow the rules in the AUP, at our sole discretion. We will try to give you a warning of any issues relating to the AUP and an opportunity to rectify such problems to continue service - however severe breaches may result in immediate suspension without advance warning.
We provide a service which allows information to be passed to and from your computer systems. In using the service you must accept that we have no responsibility for the information carried, even if it is held on our servers in transit (for example as news or email), or is placed on our servers (such as web pages, and bulletin boards). If you take offence to any information you receive, you should take up the matter with the sender, or choose not to receive the information (e.g. to not visit offending web sites, etc). Wherever practical we will assist you in locating the sender if you require help. We will also co-operate with the police or other authorities in providing information to trace any criminal offence that may be committed via our services.
You must take responsibility for your use of the internet. If anything you do, or fail to do, results in any liability for us, then you will compensate us completely. This includes any liability for anything you place on any of our servers (e.g. web, email, news). This includes compensation for all consequential losses, loss of time, loss of reputation, loss of future or expected profits, etc, as well as any fines or consequences imposed on us or our Directors and company officers or staff personally, if we or they are found liable for your actions or inaction.
Unless we have agreed with you specifically, in writing, you cannot resell or provide the service to anyone else not connected with you or your company or household. You must ensure that any passwords we supply for use with the service are kept confidential, and must notify us immediately if you realize they have been compromised. To clarify, this relates to the reselling of an internet connection, such as running a radio network or cable to neighbouring houses or offices - however operating a cyber cafe or similar business is acceptable use.
In any event, you are responsible for all those that do make use of the service using your connection, account or domain, and we advise that you ensure all users are aware of these terms and the acceptable use policy.
We have a policy of continuous improvement, and may, from time to time, add, modify or remove parts of the service. We will publish details of such changes on our web pages in advance. We will not pay any compensation for such changes even if they require periods of service suspension. If you do not like the change we have made you have the option not to renew the on-going service for the next period.
If we make a change that requires any change to the configuration of your computers or systems, then you are responsible for making those changes in order to continue using the service. Where possible we will allow the previous configuration of your system to operate at the same time as the new configuration, for a period of time. This will allow you to make necessary changes at your convenience.
You may be allocated IP addresses for use of the service. These do not belong to you, but we may register your details with IP management authorities (RIPE). We may change your allocated IP addresses for operational reasons and you must make or arrange the necessary changes at your site to accommodate such changes at your cost.
Some services, such as broadband, are sold as shared services. We require customers to make responsible use of a shared service, We reserve the right to manage the way in which the service is shared to ensure the best operation for our customers as a whole.
In provision of the service you may be bound to terms of third parties. This is because some of the contracts we enter in to require us to impose terms on those using the services. In some cases a separate contract is formed between you and a third party - e.g. a domain registration, where we act simply as an agent in registering a domain. These include :-
Anyone buying services from us for use by someone else (e.g. an IT consultant) must ensure the end user is aware of, and bound by, such third party terms by which we are bound. Such persons must also adhere to the principles of any code of practice (e.g. OFCOM broadband migration CoP) in the same way we would, passing on any requests to us promptly. For example, in the same way we work, any such person may not withhold a migration code for broadband or refuse an IPS tag change for a UK domain just because money is owed to them by the customer. If they do, then we reserve the right to deal directly with their customer in such matters.
Terminating your service is asking us to stop providing the service for you once we have started providing the service. If you wish to stop an order before we have provided the service this is cancellation and is described later.
You can terminate the service in any period at any time, but full payment for the whole period already invoiced remains due without any partial refund. Unless otherwise stated our services have no minimm term. Where there is a minimum term you will also be billed for the remainder of that term when you terminate the service. To avoid a further bill ensure we have received a termination notice before the next period is invoiced. We can also opt not to renew your service if we wish, for any reason (i.e. terminate it).
Broadband services require 5 working days notice for termination. If you have requested service terminated within 5 working days of the end of the period billed you will recieve a further bill for the additional days once the service is terminated.
For broadband, the corresponding telephone line must be maintained, connected and paid for. If disconnected or moved to a new address or taken over by someone else, then this is taken as notice of termination with immediate effect, with any associated disconnection charge.
Terminating an broadband service could mean that it is several days before another service provider can provide service as it will take time for BT to process the request we make to them to terminate the circuit to your premises. If you have an associated telephone service which we provide that is also terminated when you cease your broadband. You need to complete the cease request order on our web site in order to terminate the service.
In some cases there is also a charge for disconnecting a service. This is published on our price list and order pages.
You can migrate a broadband service away from us using a migration code. You can order a migration code on our main web pages. This is issued free of charge. Only when the migration has been completed is your service with us terminated.
If you want to leave us, we recommend that you migrate broadband service to another provider if possible, rather than terminating service, as this avoids termination costs and delays.
Once migration is complete your service is terminated. Invoices issued up to that point must be paid in full.
Cancelling an order is asking us not to provide your service before we have actually provided it. Once we have provided service, even if you are not yet using the service, you cannot cancel your order but you may terminate your service as described above, or in some cases migrate the service.
We cannot guarantee the date that we will provide a service, especially if it relies on the work of a third party such as BT plc. We will keep trying to provide your service if at all possible until you ask us to cancel the order. If we have still not provided the service by 7 days after the agreed date then we will not make any cancellation charge if you cancel at that point.
If you cancel a service for any other reason then we will make a cancellation charge. This cancellation charge is never more than the charge we would make for terminating service the day after it was provided. For training or on-site engineering this will normally be 50% of the service charge. For broadband we expect payment of the first period invoiced for the service and all connection/setup/cease charges. If you are considering cancelling the service, please ask us to quote for the cancellation charge that would apply in your case.
Cancelling an order for broadband service could mean that it is several days before another service provider can provide service as it will take time for BT to process the request we make to them to cancel the circuit to your premises.
You are responsible for ensuring that you have backups of your web site or other data you store on any of our servers. In the event of any data being lost or restored from our backups we will notify you as soon as practical (within 2 working days) so that you can check your web site is up to date and upload any necessary files. We are not responsible for data lost for any reason. If you are unhappy with the service we provide, you have the option not to renew the service in the next period.
Contact details for fixed IP address assignments are published in the RIPE database and can be checked via http://www.ripe.net/. Contact details for domain registrations may be published on various whois servers by the registry.
It is a formal condition that you accept that such details may be published and fully indemnify us against any claim related to publications of such details. Where practical we will co-operate with your requests to publish alternative or restricted contact details.
Connecting to the internet, whether by modem, ISDN, or broadband, means that your computer is part of a world wide network of computers. It is possible that your computer is providing file shares, or other services on the internet connection which may allow it to be hacked . You are responsible for the security of your computers. We are not responsible for any breach of security via the internet. We recommend you ensure your machine is configured correctly, or has firewalling software or a separate firewall to protect you from the internet. This is particularly important if you have a permanent connection such as broadband.
If you have a dispute, please contact us. We have an internal escalations procedure which is completely free of charge. In some cases, for telecommunications services, you may be able to take up your dispute via a mediator using an alternative dispute resolution process. If you have exhaused our internal escalation procedure without a resolution, or we have reached a deadlock, please do ask about the alternative dispute resolution process. We will always attempt to resolve any dispute before a mediator is required. If you take the matter to a mediator when we have already given a full response that resolves the dispute, and the mediator agrees with us, we will charge you our mediation costs where we are permitted to do so. You should also bear in mind that we can, at any time, chose not to continue providing you with service, just as you can choose not to take service from us (subject to any minimum terms that may apply).
Any quote for engineering work, consultancy, training, or software development is firm quote for an hourly or daily rate, but an estimate of the time it will take to carry out the work. Should the work look likely to exceed the estimate we will discuss options with you, and you can opt to pay for additional time or stop development at that point. Any work carried out must be paid for at the agreed hourly or daily rate. As stated above we limit liability to the pro-rata amount paid for any work carried out which is unsatisfactory.
In some cases we supply software developed or modified by us. Unless agreed otherwise, in writing, we retain all rights to the software including rights to source code. Your purchase is simply for a licence to make use of the software in accordance with our instructions. As with all software it is impossible to guarantee 100% reliable operation. Any defects notified within a 1 year warranty period will be rectified with reasonable skill, care and speed but no consequential liability can be accepted for any losses due to such a failure. Rectifying a problem may simply mean changing the instructions for use. You must provide us with any remote access and passwords we may require to rectify problems and test changes on your systems. Some systems include third party software which may be subject to it's own licence conditions. Any free software which may be included is separate and is not provided as part of any contract with you, and for which no liability can be accepted by us. For any software which is included that is published under a GNU public licence, or similar, we have an obligation to supply source code on request - just ask.
We make every effort to ensure we accurately meter usage - whether usage of email storage, web storage, calls made, data tranferred on internet links or hosted servers or anything else. The metering we do is the basis for any bills we raise for usage. Unless you can clearly demonstrate that our usage metering is inaccurate in our favour then you have to pay based on our measurements. We may provide some details of usage on an on-going basis before bills are generated, but do not guarantee to do so. Where there may be a considerable charge for unexpected high usage (e.g. server hosting) it is recommended that you put in place monitoring of your own links. You must also bear in mind that you are responsible for all usage of the service and also for security of any computers - as such usage resulting from being hacked in some way is still payable.
You must follow any directions we give you in dealing with any BT engineers that are acting on our behalf. Failure to do so could mean that we are charged by BT when we would not be, and in such cases we will pass on these charges to you (at cost).
For example: At present we require that you make it a condition of their entry on to your premises that they confine their activity to the BT side of the NTP, a condition of which we will advise BT for you.